class. really, truly, gets in the way of..life. not getting out of class until 12:45, having to check email, and then eat makes it so my sightseeing day cannot start until around 3pm. sheesh.
and then it is cold and windy and rainy...nothing to see. actually, it just gives me an excuse to go inside!
yesterday I was very successful finding my jacket, and a few other trinkets - of course. but it was cold and rainy, so I decided to go to the one attraction I really wanted to see. the Camera Obscura.
built in 1853 by a female optrician (that's right! a girl! the UK is so advanced with the whole women are awesome thing) the Camera Obscura is just that, a camera! lucky for me and my £5 entrance fee there was more than that to see, but it is really cool.
you climb five flights of stairs to get to the roof, where you can take 360 degree pictures of Edinburgh, then you go into the dark room with the camera. everyone sits around this 2 1/2' diameter, white, concave, wooden table (enough adjectives for ya?) and the camera (aka a mirror at a 45 degree angle) on the roof is projected down three lenses and shines on the table. this was really really cool, because you got the 360 view of edinburgh and it was a live picture, so you could see people walking down the street and lights flashing! and then the guide took a piece of paper and said we could have fun with the camera. she put the paper under a couple people walking down the street and lifted it up - so cool, cuz it was like lifting the people up - and then she swatted it down! haha, it was like camera voodoo! then she folded the paper and set it up on the table like a bridge and the little people would walk over it, and it really looked like they were having to go up hill. I don't know if I can adequately explain how that worked, but that was me trying.
after the camera, you go through the other floors and it is basically an optical illusion museum! cool eh? Dad and Greg would love this place. one room was all fun mirrors, and 3D stuff. one mirror was concave and if you stuck your hand in it, a 3D image of your hand popped back out at you. you could shake your own hand!! soo freakin' awesome! there was a hologram room to, even some moving picture ones. oh! one of the holograms was a 3D microscope, and get this - you could put your eye up to it and see a magnified picture of a microchip inside!!!!!!
OMG it was soooo cool! for real! you could look inside the holographic microscope. that is just about the coolest thing I have seen on this trip.
today I am visiting Edinburgh Castle and doing a literary pub tour. half our group did it yesterday and said the pub crawl was long and freezing. so I, of course, am nothing but upbeat waiting for it. Friday, I hope to go to Stirling Castle, and this weekend I want to go to Roselind Chapel (from da vinci code) and do the scotch whiskey tour. apparently there is a barrel ride to explain how whiskey is made, and then...free sample! monday we have a class trip to the Highlands, Rob Roy country, and the Isle of Skye. and tuesday, Loch Ness is my destination. and then...wednesday is my last day! wow! time flies when you have stuff planned.
also, if any of you have a specific gift you are really wanting me to get you, tell me! I try to be awesome and just know, but sometimes I don't. so don't assume I am aware of what you want, and don't be afraid to ask me to bring you something. I am doing awesome on my budget and as much as I complain, packing will not be a big deal. plus, I love shopping! especially for other people.
also, grandma has told me our family tartan is Campbell. yeah...there are four different Campbell tartans. I am not about to buy four different plaid somethings, so if we have a better idea of which Campbell we are, then I will find a magnet or scarf or something.
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It is so fun getting this second hand education. I don't have to attend class or write papers, but I still get my horizons expanded. Excellent. For instance, my tourist brochure, postcard, travelogue, (enough modifiers for ya) image of Ireland, and Scotland are of green fields of sheep and cows separated by waist high stone walls and lanes (not roads) on which a two wheeled cart is pulled by a shetland type pony. The houses are of the same rock as the walls and the windows have no glass in them. Then I find out that they have advanced optics and other science! I bet they even have glass windows!
Find the local Mormon church to research which Campbell plaid...oh, they don't have Mormons? Try Google, it sounds more Scottish than Yahoo!
According to my extensive research in the Outlander series of novels based in Scotland, each clan has several tartan weaves. One for hunting, one for formal occasions, one for workdays.... So, probably any one of the Campbell plaids would be correct!
Cool innit?
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